1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to automated detection and inspection of objects being manufactured on a production line, and more particularly to the related fields of industrial machine vision and automated image analysis.
2. Description of the Related Art
Industrial manufacturing relies on automatic inspection of objects being manufactured. One form of automatic inspection that has been in common use for decades is based on optoelectronic technologies that use electromagnetic energy, usually infrared or visible light, photoelectric sensors, and some form of electronic decision making.
One well-known form of optoelectronic automatic inspection uses an arrangement of photodetectors. A typical photodetector has a light source and a single photoelectric sensor that responds to the intensity of light that is reflected by a point on the surface of an object, or transmitted along a path that an object may cross. A user-adjustable sensitivity threshold establishes a light intensity above which (or below which) an output signal of the photodetector will be energized.
One photodetector, often called a gate, is used to detect the presence of an object to be inspected. Other photodetectors are arranged relative to the gate to sense the light reflected by appropriate points on the object. By suitable adjustment of the sensitivity thresholds, these other photodetectors can detect whether certain features of the object, such as a label or hole, are present or absent. A decision as to the status of the object (for example, pass or fail) is made using the output signals of these other photodetectors at the time when an object is detected by the gate. This decision is typically made by a programmable logic controller (PLC), or other suitable electronic equipment.
Automatic inspection using photodetectors has various advantages. Photodetectors are inexpensive, simple to set up, and operate at very high speed (outputs respond within a few hundred microseconds of the object being detected, although a PLC will take longer to make a decision).
Automatic inspection using photodetectors has various disadvantages, however, including:                Simple sensing of light intensity reflected from a point on the object is often insufficient for inspection. Instead it may be necessary to analyze a pattern of brightness reflected from an extended area. For example, to detect an edge it may be necessary to analyze a pattern of brightness to see if it corresponds to a transition from a lighter to a darker region;        It may be hard to arrange the photodetectors when many points on an object need to be inspected. Each such inspection point requires the use of a separate photodetector to that needs to be physically mounted in such a way as to not interfere with the placement of the other photodetectors. Interference may be due to space limitations, crosstalk from the light sources, or other factors;        Manufacturing lines are usually capable of producing a mix of products, each with unique inspection requirements. An arrangement of photodetectors is very inflexible, so that a line changeover from one product to another would require the photodetectors to be physically moved and readjusted. The cost of performing a line changeover, and the risk of human error involved, often offset the low cost and simplicity of the photodetectors; and        Using an arrangement of photodetectors requires that objects be presented at known, predetermined locations so that the appropriate points on the object are sensed. This requirement may add additional cost and complexity that can offset the low cost and simplicity of the photodetectors.        
Another well-known form of optoelectronic automatic inspection uses a device that can capture a digital image of a two-dimensional field of view in which an object to be inspected is located, and then analyze the image and make decisions. Such a device is usually called a machine vision system, or simply a vision system. The image is captured by exposing a two-dimensional array of photosensitive elements for a brief period, called the integration or shutter time, to light that has been focused on the array by a lens. The array is called an imager and the individual elements are called pixels. Each pixel measures the intensity of light falling on it during the shutter time. The measured intensity values are then converted to digital numbers and stored in the memory of the vision system to form the image, which is analyzed by a digital processing element such as a computer, using methods well-known in the art to determine the status of the object being inspected.
In some cases the objects are brought to rest in the field of view, and in other cases the objects are in continuous motion through the field of view. An event external to the vision system, such as a signal from a photodetector, or a message from a PLC, computer, or other piece of automation equipment, is used to inform the vision system that an object is located in the field of view, and therefore an image should be captured and analyzed. Such an event is called a trigger.
Machine vision systems avoid the disadvantages associated with using an arrangement of photodetectors. They can analyze patterns of brightness reflected from extended areas, easily handle many distinct features on the object, accommodate line changeovers through software systems and/or processes, and handle uncertain and variable object locations.
Machine vision systems have disadvantages compared to an arrangement of photodetectors, including:                They are relatively expensive, often costing ten times more than an arrangement of photodetectors;        They can be difficult to set up, often requiring people with specialized engineering training; and        They operate much more slowly than an arrangement of photodetectors, typically requiring tens or hundreds of milliseconds to make a decision. Furthermore, the decision time tends to vary significantly and unpredictably from object to object.        
Machine vision systems have limitations that arise because they make decisions based on a single image of each object, located in a single position in the field of view (each object may be located in a different and unpredictable position, but for each object there is only one such position on which a decision is based). This single position provides information from a single viewing perspective, and a single orientation relative to the illumination. The use of only a single perspective often leads to incorrect decisions. It has long been observed, for example, that a change in perspective of as little as a single pixel can in some cases change an incorrect decision to a correct one. By contrast, a human inspecting an object usually moves it around relative to his eyes and the lights to make a more reliable decision.
Some prior art vision systems capture multiple images of an object at rest in the field of view, and then average those images to produce a single image for analysis. The averaging reduces measurement noise and thereby improves the decision making, but there is still only one perspective and illumination orientation, considerable additional time is needed, and the object must be brought to rest.
Some prior art vision systems that are designed to read alphanumeric codes, bar codes, or 2D matrix codes will capture multiple images and vary the illumination direction until either a correct read is obtained, or all variations have been tried. This method works because such codes contain sufficient redundant information that the vision system can be sure when a read is correct, and because the object can be held stationary in the field of view for enough time to try all of the variations. The method is generally not suitable for object inspection, and is not suitable when objects are in continuous motion. Furthermore, the method still provides only one viewing perspective, and the decision is based on only a single image, because information from the images that did not result in a correct read is discarded.
Some prior art vision systems are used to guide robots in pick-and-place applications where objects are in continuous motion through the field of view. Some such systems are designed so that the objects move at a speed in which the vision system has the opportunity to see each object at least twice. The objective of this design, however, is not to obtain the benefit of multiple perspectives, but rather to insure that objects are not missed entirely if conditions arise that temporarily slow down the vision system, such as a higher than average number of objects in the field of view. These systems do not make use of the additional information potentially provided by the multiple perspectives.
Machine vision systems have additional limitations arising from their use of a trigger signal. The need for a trigger signal makes the setup more complex—a photodetector must be mounted and adjusted, or software must be written for a PLC or computer to provide an appropriate message. When a photodetector is used, which is almost always the case when the objects are in continuous motion, a production line changeover may require it to be physically moved, which can offset some of the advantages of a vision system. Furthermore, photodetectors can only respond to a change in light intensity reflected from an object or transmitted along a path. In some cases, such a condition may not be sufficient to reliably detect when an object has entered the field of view.
Some prior art vision systems that are designed to read alphanumeric codes, bar codes, or two dimensional (2D) matrix codes can operate without a trigger by continuously capturing images and attempting to read a code. For the same reasons described above, such methods are generally not suitable for object inspection, and are not suitable when objects are in continuous motion.
Some prior art vision systems used with objects in continuous motion can operate without a trigger using a method often called self-triggering. These systems typically operate by monitoring one or more portions of captured images for a change in brightness or color that indicates the presence of an object. Self-triggering is rarely used in practice due to several limitations:                The vision systems respond too slowly for self-triggering to work at common production speeds;        The methods provided to detect when an object is present are not sufficient in many cases; and        The vision systems do not provide useful output signals that are synchronized to a specific, repeatable position of the object along the production line, signals that are typically provided by the photodetector that acts as a trigger and needed by a PLC or handling mechanism to take action based on the vision system's decision.        
Many of the limitations of machine vision systems arise in part because they operate too slowly to capture and analyze multiple perspectives of objects in motion, and too slowly to react to events happening in the field of view. Since most vision systems can capture a new image simultaneously with analysis of the current image, the maximum rate at which a vision system can operate is determined by the larger of the capture time and the analysis time. Overall, one of the most significant factors in determining this rate is the number of pixels comprising the imager.
The time needed to capture an image is determined primarily by the number of pixels in the imager, for two basic reasons. First, the shutter time is determined by the amount of light available and the sensitivity of each pixel. Since having more pixels generally means making them smaller and therefore less sensitive, it is generally the case that increasing the number of pixels increases the shutter time. Second, the conversion and storage time is proportional to the number of pixels. Thus the more pixels one has, the longer the capture time.
For at least the last 25 years, prior art vision systems generally have used about 300,000 pixels; more recently some systems have become available that use over 1,000,000, and over the years a small number of systems have used as few as 75,000. Just as with digital cameras, the recent trend is to more pixels for improved image resolution. Over the same period of time, during which computer speeds have improved a million-fold and imagers have changed from vacuum tubes to solid state, machine vision image capture times generally have improved from about 1/30 second to about 1/60 second, only a factor of two. Faster computers have allowed more sophisticated analysis, but the maximum rate at which a vision system can operate has hardly changed.
Recently, CMOS imagers have appeared that allow one to capture a small portion of the photosensitive elements, reducing the conversion and storage time. Theoretically such imagers can support very short capture times, but in practice, since the light sensitivity of the pixels is no better than when the full array is used, it is difficult and/or expensive to achieve the very short shutter times that would be needed to make such imagers useful at high speed.
Due in part to the image capture time bottleneck, image analysis methods suited to operating rates significantly higher than 60 images per second have not been developed. Similarly, use of multiple perspectives, operation without triggers, production of appropriately synchronized output signals, and a variety of other useful functions have not been adequately considered in the prior art.
Recently, experimental devices called focal plane array processors have been developed in research laboratories. These devices integrate analog signal processing elements and photosensitive elements on one substrate, and can operate at rates in excess of 10,000 images per second. The analog signal processing elements are severely limited in capability compared to digital image analysis, however, and it is not yet clear whether such devices can be applied to automated industrial inspection.
Considering the disadvantages of an arrangement of photodetectors, and the disadvantages and limitations of current machine vision systems, there is a compelling need for systems and methods that make use of two-dimensional imagers and digital image analysis for improved detection and inspection of objects in industrial manufacturing.